Issues

Death penalty

At the beginning of the 2011 session, Raoul sponsored a proposal that will appeal the death penalty in Illinois. He faced opposition from the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association.

Raoul cited 10 years of studies that demonstrate a broken criminal justice system.

“There’s got to be a point where you try and solve a problem,” said Raoul. “I think it’s high time the Illinois justice system catch up.”

In 2000, former Gov. George Ryan placed a temporary moratorium on the death penalty, which has since been upheld. Three years later and two days before leaving office, he commuted the sentences of 167 Death Row prisoners.

Sheldon Sobol, Grundy County state's attorney and president of the Illinois State's Attorneys Association, said that the legislation was rushed through committee and that victims didn’t get a chance to be heard by lawmakers.

“When this bill is taken by the Legislature, they have not heard from the most important people that are impacted by this decision,” said Sobol.[2]

On January 6, 2011, the House narrowly passed the bill to abolish the death penalty. The measure now moves to the Senate, where it will be considered when that chamber returns to the Capitol next week.

Lawmakers approved Senate Bill 3539 with the required 60 votes after waging an earlier emotional, hour-long debate. However, the $20 million annual cost of death penalty cases that convinced state Rep. Patrick J. Verschoore to change his previous “no” vote to “yes.”

“I was on both sides of this issue. But then you think of the potential cost savings of this bill, and the state needs all of the savings we can get,” Verschoore said. “Besides, my wife was on me to vote for it.”

“Let’s instead put that money where it really matters,” said state Rep. Karen Yarbrough. “Let’s give law enforcement some training that they need to wage the fight against crime. Let’s give victims of these heinous crimes the support and services that they long deserve.”

Former FBI agent and state Rep. Jim Sacia could not be swayed. He recalled that Brian Dugan confessed to the 1985 killing of 7-year-old Melissa Ackerman in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

“We wouldn’t have had information on the heinousness of this crime had we not had the tool of the death penalty,” Sacia said.

“I agree there are cases that we’d like to have that perpetrator put to death,” Pritchard said. “But it’s arbitrary how and who we pursue in those cases.”

Rep. William Burns agreed and noted that the death penalty has often been biased in its implementation.

“If you’re an African-American who kills a white victim, you’re more likely to be sentenced to death than a white person who kills a black person,” Burns said. “That if you’re low-income, if you are uneducated, you’re more likely to be sentenced to death than someone who has more education and more money.”[3]

Redistricting

Sen. Raoul said the level of transparency during the mapmaking process in 2011 was unparallelled. The legislature hosted hearings before and after the redistricting map was drawn. The current proposed map was posted online.

"As soon as we had a proposed map, we put it out on there," said Raoul.[4]

Elections

2012

Raoul won re-election in the 2012 election for Illinois State Senate District 13. He was unopposed in the Democratic Primary on March 20[5][6] and was unopposed in the general election which took place on November 6, 2012.[7]

Scorecards

Illinois Opportunity Project

The Illinois Opportunity Project, "an independent research and public policy enterprise that promotes legislative solutions in advance of free markets and free minds," annually releases its Legislative Vote Card, grading all members in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly on the basis of their support of "pro-growth economic policies that increase personal freedom and reign in expansive government."[13][14]

2012

Raoul received a score of 14.29 out of 100 in 2012 for a grade of F according to the IOP’s grading scale. His score was tied for the 47th highest among all 59 members of the Illinois State Senate included in the Vote Card.[14]

Personal

Kwame and his wife, Kali, have two children.

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